POLITICAL IDEOLOGY: THE ROLE OF CHUCH'E

A flag of Kim Jong Il is displayed on a truck being driven
through P'yongyang.Courtesy Tracy Woodward

Chuch'e ideology is the basic cornerstone of party
construction, party works, and government operations.
Chuch'e is sanctified as the essence of what has been
officially called Kim Il Sung Chuui (Kim Il Sung-ism) since April
1974. Chuch'e is also claimed as "the present-day MarxismLeninism ." North Korean leaders advocate chuch'e ideology
as the only correct guiding ideology in their ongoing
revolutionary movement.

Chuch'e also is referred to as "the unitary ideology"
or as "the monolithic ideology of the Party." It is inseparable
from and, for all intents and purposes, synonymous with Kim Il
Sung's leadership and was said to have been "created" or
"fathered" by the great leader as an original "encyclopedic
thought which provides a complete answer to any question that
arises in the struggle for national liberation and class
emancipation, in the building of socialism and communism."
Chuch'e is viewed as the embodiment of revealed truth
attesting to the wisdom of Kim's leadership as exemplified in
countless speeches and "on-the-spot guidance."

Chuch'e was proclaimed in December 1955, when Kim
underlined the critical need for a Korea-centered revolution
rather than one designed to benefit, in his words, "another
country." Chuch'e is designed to inspire national pride
and identity and mold national consciousness into a potentially
powerful focus for internal solidarity centered on Kim and the
KWP.

According to Kim, chuch'e means "the independent
stance of rejecting dependence on others and of using one's own
powers, believing in one's own strength and displaying the
revolutionary spirit of self-reliance." Chuch'e is an
ideology geared to address North Korea's contemporary goals--an
independent foreign policy, a self-sufficient economy, and a
self-reliant defense posture. Kim Il Sung's enunciation of
chuch'e in 1955 was aimed at developing a monolithic and
effective system of authority under his exclusive leadership. The
invocation of chuch'e was a psychological tool with which
to stigmatize the foreign-oriented dissenters and remove them
from the center of power. Targeted for elimination were groups of
pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese anti-Kim dissenters.

Chuch'e did not become a prominent ideology overnight.
During the first ten years of North Korea's existence, MarxismLeninism was accepted unquestioningly as the only source of
doctrinal authority. Nationalism was toned down in deference to
the country's connections to the Soviet Union and China. In the
mid-1950s, however, chuch'e was presented as a "creative"
application of Marxism-Leninism. In his attempt to establish an
interrelationship between Marxism-Leninism and chuch'e,
Kim contended that although Marxism-Leninism was valid as the
fundamental law of revolution, it needed an authoritative
interpreter to define a new set of practical ideological
guidelines appropriate to the revolutionary environment in North
Korea.

Kim's practical ideology was given a test of relevancy
throughout the mid-1960s. In the late 1950s, Kim was able to
mobilize internal support when he purged pro-Soviet and proChinese dissenters from party ranks. During the first half of the
1960s, Kim faced an even more formidable challenge when he had to
weather a series of tense situations that had potentially adverse
implications for North Korea's economic development and national
security. Among these were a sharp decrease in aid from the
Soviet Union and China; discord between the Soviet Union and
China and its disquieting implications for North Korea's
confrontation with the United States and South Korea;
P'yongyang's disagreements with Moscow and apprehensions about
the reliability of the Soviet Union as an ally; and the rise of
an authoritarian regime in Seoul under former General Park Chung
Hee (1961-79).

These developments emphasized the need for self-reliance--the
need to rely on domestic resources, heighten vigilance against
possible external challenges, and strengthen domestic political
solidarity. Sacrifice, austerity, unity, and patriotism became
dominant themes in the party's efforts to instill in the people
the importance of chuch'e and collective discipline. By
the mid-1960s, however, North Korea could afford to relax
somewhat; its strained relations with the Soviet Union had eased,
as reflected in part by Moscow's decision to rush economic and
military assistance to P'yongyang.

Beginning in mid-1965, chuch'e was presented as the
essence of Kim Il Sung's leadership and of party lines and
policies for every conceivable revolutionary situation. Kim's
past leadership record was put forward as the "guide and compass"
for the present and future and as a source of strength sufficient
to propel the faithful through any adversity.

Nonetheless, the linkage of chuch'e to MarxismLeninism remains a creed of the party. The April 1972 issue of
K lloja (The Worker) still referred to the KWP as "a
Marxist-Leninist Party"; the journal pointed out that "the only
valid policy for Korean Communists is Marxism-Leninism" and
called for "its creative application to our realities."

Since 1974 it has become increasingly evident, however, that
the emphasis is on the glorification of chuch'e as "the
only scientific revolutionary thought representing our era of
Juche and communist future and the most effective revolutionary
theoretical structure that leads to the future of communist
society along the surest shortcut." This new emphasis was based
on the contention that a different historical era, with its
unique sociopolitical circumstances, requires an appropriately
unique revolutionary ideology. Accordingly, Marxism and Leninism
were valid doctrines in their own times, but had outlived their
usefulness in the era of chuch'e, which prophesies the
downfall of imperialism and the worldwide victory of socialism
and communism.

As the years have passed, references to Marxism-Leninism in
party literature have steadily decreased. By 1980 the terms
Marxism and Leninism had all but disappeared from
the pages of K lloja. An unsigned article in the March
1980 K lloja proclaimed, "Within the Party none but the
leader Kim Il Sung's revolutionary thought, the chuch'e
ideology, prevails and there is no room for any hodgepodge
thought contrary to it." The report Kim Il Sung presented to the
Sixth Party Congress in October 1980 did not contain a single
reference to Marxism-Leninism, in marked contrast to his report
to the Fifth Party Congress in November 1970. In the 1980 report,
Kim declared: "The whole party is rallied rock-firm around its
Central Committee and knit together in ideology and purpose on
the basis of the chuch'e idea. The Party has no room for
any other idea than the chuch'e idea, and no force can
ever break its unity and cohesion based on this idea."

Chuch'e is instrumental in providing a consistent and
unifying framework for commitment and action in the North Korean
political arena. It offers an underpinning for the party's
incessant demand for spartan austerity, sacrifice, discipline,
and dedication. Since the mid-1970s, however, it appears that
chuch'e has become glorified as an end in itself.

In his annual New Year's message on January 1, 1992, Kim Il
Sung emphasized the invincibility of chuch'e ideology: "I
take great pride in and highly appreciate the fact that our
people have overcome the ordeals of history and displayed to the
full the heroic mettle of the revolutionary people and the
indomitable spirit of chuch'e Korea, firmly united behind
the party . . . . No difficulty is insurmountable nor is any
fortress impregnable for us when our party leads the people with
the ever-victorious chuch'e-oriented strategy and tactics
and when all the people turn out as one under the party's
leadership."

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